Sparks Against the Railing
by VioletLolitaPop
Summary: Levi recognizes the man being the same one involved in that little staring contest on the dock at their departure. Funny, he didn't think he'd be seeing him again, least of all in a place like this. First Class passengers are rarely heard of trespassing down to where the poor are kept. .:Titanic!AU:.


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Levi swears to god, if this brat doesn't shut up he's going to throw him overboard.

"Goodbye! Goodbye everyone!"

"Eren."

He's instantly granted the attention of his young companion, one Eren Jaeger, who has been following him around for the better part of half a year after an unfortunate accident with his mother and the disappearance of this father. Of course, Levi didn't have to allow him the privilege of doing so, but at the same time he couldn't just let the kid end up down the same path he'd traveled. It's a hard one to come back from, and who knows, maybe taking the kid in will help make up for some of the bad he's done.

That still doesn't mean he can't find him to be an annoying little pain in the ass every now and then.

"You don't know anyone down there," he says. "The hell're you saying goodbye for?"

"I dunno," Eren shrugs. "Just, everyone. England, Europe, all of it. Come on, this exciting you know it is. We're damn lucky enough to be able to get on this thing, that's gotta be a good sign."

"A good sign."

"Yeah, y'know, new country, clean start. Everything coming back together again?"

A clean start, wouldn't that be something…?

"You're too optimistic for me sometimes, kid."

"You want me stop cheering?"

"Nah, knock yourself out."

He leaves Eren to shout his final goodbyes, turns away and leans against the railings. Eventually his eyes begin to wander, never settling on one single person or object. He's honestly ready to go down below deck, all the way down to third class and find where they'll be bunking for the journey.

It's by pure chance really, he catches sight of a well-dressed man in a tailored suit, blond hair neatly combed and parted, First Class no question there. Although, it's not his appearance that calls out to him, at least not his dress. He's up on the second deck, off to their left and isn't cheering with the others, but is for all intent and purpose with all those of his class being seen off, and what's called Levi's attention is his eyebrows.

Levi always thought Eren would be the only one with a set that bushy and furrowed that way, he may owe him an apology for the jokes.

He's about to call out for Eren, tell him to get a load of this guy's brows and even make fun of the kid a bit with a comparison, but before he's able to he's stopped by the sight of a baby blue stare piercing right at him. Levi's own eyes widen by only a margin in surprise, yet he keeps his face as neutral as ever in the wake of this new development.

Blondie stare back levelly, crosses his arms and straightens his stance. Levi wonders if he's able to read minds and is pissed about the eyebrow comment, the narrowing eyes in his direction might be proof of that but that could also be of the quick quirk of his lips at the thought. Still, that's gotta be a hell of a way to read people, and from all the way up there.

Not bad…

In any case, he himself straightens himself, keeps himself relaxed against the rail in an appearance of being bored already and crosses his own arms across his chest. He's ready to keep this quasi-battle of will going on for as long as possible, ever determined to come out of this the winner. He's stared down men twice as tough, three times as big, and all of them have backed down before him.

"Levi."

He's torn away by Eren's hand on his shoulder. The eye contact breaks as his head turns to face him.

"What're you looking at?" he asks, and even glances past to try to find what it is that's caught his friend's attention.

Levi does the same, only to find the man gone.

Goddammit, Eren…

He brushes it off. It's nothing, doesn't even matter in the long run. He's not disappointed at all. Not in the slightest.

"Come on," he says to Eren. "Let's find out what kind of shit hole we're stuck in."

He follows Levi without hesitation, picks up on both of their bags and catches up when he's already being left behind. They both push past the crowds, all with Eren's voice ringing clear over the noise.

"Can't be any worse then some of the places we've been in. We're on the Titanic, Levi. The Titanic!"

"You've been saying that since we got on."

"I'll stop saying it when it stops being so damn amazing."

"It's just a boat."

"Yeah, a pretty damn expensive one to get on to."

Well, he's not going to deny that one.

Though it's not as if they bought the tickets themselves, they had been used as leverage during a short time when Levi played loan shark for a small while only a month back. Since the money was never returned to them, and even after taking care of a fitting and memorable consequence to that, they debated on what to do with the tickets. There were four total, and they could have acquired a small fortune with the profits of scalping them. In fact, it was an idea entertained for a rather long time, one that was almost fulfilled. However, an incident with some unsavory characters residing in the floor below them resulted in a widespread fire, turning the entire building along with the two on either side and all of their belongings into ash.

It was a marvel, how on that particular day Eren had worn the coat that still had the tickets, unknowingly kept them safe. It had been a single shared look, and then two of them were sold, new items were bought, and the two made off for Liverpool.

Levi looks back over his shoulder, sees Eren's smiling face and recalls how excited he'd been on the way here, how it's nothing compared to the buzzing joy radiating off of him now. It's the first time in their acquaintance with one another to see him like this, and he may not show it, but he is grateful. He's only fifteen, kid deserves a break after everything.

Him too, in all honesty. He may understand that life is full of hardships, and someone with his past it's usually one right after another, but like hell if he's not going to take advantage of a clean living space. It just has to be, this ship is new. He pulls the cap he wears a little more over his eyes as they continue to walk. If he sees one rat he's going to sink this ship himself, "unsinkable" comments be damned.

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Disclaimer: You can fight this all you want but tonight belongs to...

-Nononononono what am I doing I have like 217589047813736 other fics that I need to update why am I starting another new fic?

-Updates are based on reception, my fic priority list is all out of whack I need to sort that out

-Also I'm still laughing at the title that is a real song lyric that I chose for stupid reasons I am stupid Mahal take the wheel.


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